Herculean effort put in, to win in splendid Glantane venue

3-09 to 1-10 2nd April 2017 Vs. Kilshannig

On a glorious Sunday morning in Glantane, Killavullen would have caused a bit of a surprise in the latest instalment of the Avondhu Division 1 football league when we defeated our hosts by 5 points, 3-09 to 1-10.

If the result was a surprise, then the endeavour put in by Killavullen over the hour was the foundation to the win, we simply harried and chased Kilshannig all over this fine big pitch that was in superb condition.

We got the opening score from a free that resulted in a black card for the Kilshannig number 2 in the 1st minute of the game, after Charlie Lillis was upended. However, we lost our influential midfielder Bartly Hayes to a freakish and nasty blood injury on the resultant kick out, which meant a reshuffle of our resources, and the introduction of James Magner. Kilshannig scored from a free, and went ahead by 0-03 to 0-01 before David Brosnan got a score back from a free. Kilshannig gained another point from their half back before Charlie Lillis kicked a splendid point from distance, and good work by Liam Cronin.

Kilshannig were awarded a penalty that was dispatched despite the antics of our goalie to distract their taker But we scored a nice point, just before half time, when the hard working Ian O Gorman was released after fine possession holding play from our forwards.

The score at the break was 1-04 to 0-05.

Killavullen would have been delighted with the work ethics and on the resumption, it got even better. David Brosnan gave the final pass to James Magner, and he duly found the net with another impressive goal, to add to his 2017 tally. We were tenacious at the pressing at this stage of the game, Charlie and and Dave landed points each, before Dave Brosnan finished to the net, after Seamus Fox and Lucas Sheehan refused to give up on a ball that they had no right to win. 2-07 to 1-06 at this stage, and it got better when Dave found the net again.

At the back, a tigerish defence was snuffing out the attacks from Kilshannig, and though we lost a player to a black card, our bench was sprung to a telling effect. Liam Cronin scored a fine point after Josh Sheehan held up the ball well. We got another point from the player that ran himself to a standstill, Ian O Gorman to bring our final tally to 3-09.

Kilshannig got scores at the end of the game but it was too little too late, and we had garnished the honours, in an unexpected result. The corresponding fixture in 2016 had resulted in a winning margin to Kilshannig of 7 points so the management team of Kevin, Finny and Willie would have been very pleased, especially pleased with the work ethic.

Paul O Sullivan, Gearoid Sheehan, and the Fox brother deserves special mention for the effort they put into the defensive effort, and Charlie Lillis in attack, after their heroic endeavours as well on Friday night, in the U21 championship.